Sandy Ryan vs. Mikaela Mayer: Big Fight Preview & Prediction
After two wafer-thin reversals on UK soil, Mikaela Mayer will be thankful that her latest attempt to once again become a world champion will be on home turf.
This weekend, Mayer will trade blows and more than a few words with Sandy Ryan with the WBO world welterweight title on the line. A Friday night fight that will define the fighting futures of both Ryan and Mayer. A loss will be devastating for both. A war is being promised. In truth, they just have to win.
Ryan will be extremely wary of another fight in America after being the victim of daylight robbery last September when she was denied a deserved victory when the judges somehow only saw fit to give her a draw against the inferior and now retired Jessica McCaskill in their unification fight in Florida.
The Derby fighter returned in March and brought her own judges and walked through Terri Harper in Sheffield, and stopped Harper after three incredibly one-sided rounds.
Mayer has seen her career stall somewhat in recent times. A highly controversial split-decision defeat to her most heated rival Alycia Baumgardner in October 2022 that cost Mayer her unbeaten record and her unified world super-featherweight titles. Mayer gradually moved up through the weights and eventually landed at welterweight and in Liverpool earlier this year. In a defence of her IBF world welterweight bauble, Natasha Jonas edged past Mayer in another desperately close fight in January. For the second time, Mayer left the UK feeling that she had been robbed of another rightful victory. On both counts, many agreed with her. But the American will hope it's third time lucky if the fight with Ryan, as expected, goes to the cards.
Sandy Ryan will land in New York full of confidence after her career-best performance over Terri Harper last time out. The win was expected. The manner of that victory most certainly wasn't. Ryan simply walked through the Denaby fighter, and Harper had no answer to the marauding pressure of her far superior opponent. Ryan bullied Harper into submission. Make no mistake, Ryan was incredibly impressive in that Sheffield ring.
But Mikaela Mayer is no Terri Harper. The American is physically more imposing than Harper. And Mayer insists that she will be the bully this coming weekend in a fight where the bookies just can't split them. Skybet has them dead level with their pre-fight odds of 10/11. The draw at 12-1 is incredibly tempting. This looks like a true 50/50 fight and one where you could make a genuine case for either fighter to win. Both are at the absolute peak of their physical powers. Unless something totally unexpected happens, we will get ten extremely hard and close rounds.
There is an obvious added edge to the proceedings. In short, when Ryan moved her training set-up over to Las Vegas, she started using the same facilities as Mayer, who had also recently moved lock stock and barrel to Vegas from her long-time base in Colorado, including Kay Koroma. Mayer had worked long with Koroma. A solid mainstay from her amateur days. Mayer didn't appreciate the double-dip and moved on from Koroma. Kofi Jantuah was added to the Mayer inner circle. A new rivalry was born.
Mayer says she has been a reborn fighter since she started working with Jantuah after the split from Koroma earlier this year. A few minor adjustments could make all the difference this coming weekend. Mayer believes her shots now carry a little more power since her hook-up with her new coach. If so, that adds another dimension to her arsenal. Maybe a critical one.
Picking a winner for this fight falls into the flip-of-a-coin category, especially with the subjective nature of the scoring system, even more so with the two-minute rounds. The judges are likely to be needed again. If it is anything approaching a close fight, we will see two extremely anxious fighters come that final bell. Both have more than genuine and justified grievances from previous scorecards rendered. Neither will be confident of having their hand raised if those pre-fight odds do reflect the action inside that Madison Square Garden ring.
As good as Ryan looked against Harper, we can't be sure what version of Terri Harper we saw at the Sheffield Arena. Did that win flatter Ryan somewhat? It is highly unlikely that Mayer will be dominated in the same manner. If Ryan beats Mayer in anywhere near the same manner that she beat Harper, she has far more justification for calling herself the best welterweight on the planet.
But that performance against Natasha Jonas in January showed that Mayer can fight effectively at welterweight. It also suggests that there is more to come.
If Mayer avoids the slow start that cost her so dearly in those fights with Baumgardner and Jonas, at least on the cards, then the former Olympian is more than capable of beating Ryan. And I believe that she will. A fast start is her route to victory. Mayer can't let Ryan find any early rhythm and, in the process, fall too far behind on the cards. Ryan is far too good a fighter to gift an early lead.
It will be anything but easy. It might be controversial yet again with cries of robbery doing the rounds from whoever is in the losing corner. But I believe Mayer will have her hand raised in New York. If she reverts back to her boxing skills and uses her jab, which has been underused in recent times, and mixes up her work a little more, I believe she will outwork Ryan in enough rounds to become a two-weight world champion.
Photo Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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